I thought I'd start off with a track that is the later part of the album and wasn't featured in the promo.

“Italian Girls” was a song that was recorded by Hall & Oates and is on the 1982 album “H2O”. It's one two songs that is only written by John Oates (vs. Daryl Hall or both of them together). This was the album that had the huge hit “Maneater” however this song was never released as a single.

The song itself is a playful nostalgic song to the allure of Italian women with an admiration for their beauty and charm. It's not a “deep” song lyrically but it's just generally fun to listen to and has the Italian phrase “Faccia bella, cara mia” in the chorus meaning “beautiful face, my dear”. (it also has the term “pasta basta” which I find kinda corny but I wasn't about to change John's lyrics).

When I was growing up, my Italian grandmother used to call me “Faccia Brutta” whenever I was crying or upset at something (this means “brutal face” or “very ugly” which is the compete opposite of “faccia bella”). I still laugh to this day whenever I hear either phrase and remember my grandmother (including while I was recording this).

When this song was released in 1982, I was in my first band that actually played out publically (i.e. and made money!). That band was called “First Class” and consisted of 4 Italian boys: Bob DiPuppo on guitar, Mike Bellepegnia on Bass, Chris Ricciuti on Drums and yours truly on keys and sax. My brother Tony heard this song and (although it wasn't a well known tune) thought it was perfect for us to perform it in our set – which we did. I haven't even thought about performing it since then but when considering songs for this album I thought about recreating it in the studio.

“Italian Girls” is track #9 on the album “Non Noto”.